Reconsidering Transcendence in Art

Presence or Absence of Divine Learning from Michelangelo and Van Gogh Spirituality, Articles, Spiritual Quotes, consciousness

Reconsidering Transcendence and spirituality in art

Spiritual Quotes

by Nataša Pantović

“Beauty is the word that shall be our first. Beauty is the last thing which the thinking intellect dares to approach, since only it dances as an uncontained splendor around the double constellation of the true and the good and their inseparable relation to one another. Beauty is the disinterested one, without which the ancient world refused to understand itself, a word which both imperceptibly and yet unmistakably has bid farewell to our new world, a world of interests, leaving it to its own avarice and sadness. No longer loved or fostered by religion, beauty is lifted from its face as a mask, and its absence exposes features on that face which threaten to become incomprehensible to man. We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past — whether he admits it or not — can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.”

— Hans Urs von Balthasar

On the 13^th of May, I spent hours meditating on the reflections of the two-day international conference on 'Reconsidering Transcendence: Between Presence and Absence' organized by the Faculty of Theology of Malta and their most inspiring Dean John Berry. Invited by a soul-friend Alda, I knew I was up for a treat and I'll tell you in a minute why...

Michelangelo's Passion for Beauty and Transcendent consciousness

A cousin of mine, Milan Gutić, a University of Belgrade Art Graduate, whilst finalizing his first year of the Faculty of Mathematics, got so inspired by Michelangelo and has decided to against the wishes of all his guardians focus on studying Art instead of Abstract Mathematics.

Update 09-01-2017 A famous author whose name I won't mention because her fans are scary ;) borrowed heavily from this SELF-PUBLISHED book. Anyone who loves the words "my mate" repeated endlessly should read this book

Update October 11th. I wish more people knew about this book because I found no cheating and no slut shaming. Books that don't promote violence on women like Transcendence and are still steamy and compelling deserve more love.
Jared Padalecki as shaved Ehd

ORIGINAL REVIEW




Before I write my review of Surviving Raine it's fair that I review one of my 2015 favorites. I re-read Trascendence because I wanted to have a feel of the author's style before I dived into Survaiving Raine. My conclusion? I'm a huge fan Of Mrs. Savage. (Update Oct 10th, Not anymore after I tried her scifi books and read the spoilers for Surviving Raine sequels , but this book is fantastic)

We meet Ehd, a caveman who lives in the Ice-Age. He's also the loneliest man on the planet. He lost his tribe to a fire, all his family. He has struggled to survive these rough times. He doesn't have much of a life. He's SURVIVING. He hadn't seen another human being for a long time and Ehd's starting to think that he'll be alone forever.

A modern-day girl named Elizabeth appears magically. It's never clear how that happens but you can imagine the 20000 years age of cultural differences that separte these soon-to-be-couple. Ehd is determined to mate with her and surely you understand all the sexy implications of that decision.


Or should I say instict? Because Ehd is a very primitive man whose actions are driven by instict and eventually by LOVE.







He'll provide for her, he'll protect her from harm and he'll put a baby on her. A baby! That's cute and sexy at the same time.




What I love about this book is that we are all the time on Ehd's mind and his train of thought is amazing. He's naive, but strong, and he falls in love hard for his mate. He's extremely repetitive. My mate, I have to provide for my mate, she is my mate my mate is weird, I want my mate with me, I have to protect my mate . It's really primitive, cute and charming at the same time.



I love how this couple falls for each other slowly, how they solve their cultural differences and how, what started as a very instictive desire (I have to put a baby on her) ended up in a love that TRASCENDS THE TIME. Love trascends everything. I think just the title was so full of promise and the book delivered.

The steamy scenes are full of that longing, cuteness and awkwardness of two virgin people who are learning to love. That's the reason I read New Adult and Classic romance. This kind of storyline is always so romantic because it's like inexperience is another burden for a couple to overcome and when they do it correctly is always so romantic. Beh and Ehd journey to survive the harsh times they live in and at the same time discover love is one of the best I've read. It's beautiful.

My only minor complain about the book is that perhaps just a little less sex would have worked better for me, and a I wish there had beem a little bit of Beh's perspective. That would have made a huge difference in an already-awesome-book, but at the end I don't care. I just started to try to put bookmarks on my favorite lines and without meaning it, I ended up re-reading the whole book. FOR THE THIRD TIME. I have a lot of homework and tons of books to read, but couldn't stop. That's how much I love this book and why is one of 2015 favorites.

I have to appreciate how cute this story was and I can't describe it in words properly. I just love how original this is. No billionaires, no tattoed boys, no clones of Anastasia steele or aby abernathy OR bELLA Swan. The two characters feel real and refreshing. You have to suspend disbelief a lot, because some times Ehd is just too perfect and the traveling from one age to the other is not explained, but who cares? The book is an incredibly, fast-paced journey.

If you haven't read this book, what are you waiting for? Even if you don't like fantasy book and prefer a contemporary setting perhaps you will enjoy Shay Savage's contemporary romances. I know I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for providing me with an ARC copy of this book that I voluntarily chose to read and review.

I don’t read many inspirational books so I cannot share a deep analysis of how original the book might be or where it sits in regards to the topic. The book covers a variety of subjects, and it is classed under psychology and health, philosophy and self-help, and I agree it does touch on all those.

I’m a psychiatrist and I must admit I have never studied Positive Psychology as part of my degree but this book doesn’t require an in-depth knowledge of any of the disciplines to benefit from it.

The author opens the book by introducing herself, her background, and questioning the current focus on happiness. Is happiness sufficient to lead a satisfying life? She goes on to discuss many of the studies that show that having a sense of meaning can make a big difference to the outcomes of people at a time of crisis, be it a life-threatening illness or students going through exams, and grounds the readers in the subject. She uses one of the pillars she identifies as important to creating meaning, story-telling, to hook the readers into the topic of the book. If somebody came to you and asked you to give him (her) a reason not to kill him/herself, what would you say? That’s what happened to Will Durant and what set him off asking his colleagues and trying to understand what brings meaning to people’s lives. From there, and using positive psychology, Emily Esfahani Smith, defines the four pillars that bring meaning to people’s lives: belonging, purpose, story-telling and transcendence. The author illustrates each one of these topics with individual stories that help make the points more accessible. We have a young man who was only interested in money, became a drug dealer, and when he went to prison discovered his lifestyle was literally killing him. There he changed his habits and ended up not only becoming fit but also helping others to become healthier. We have a woman who loves animals and finds her purpose in looking after the animals in the zoo, ensuring their lives can be interesting there too. I learned about dream directors who help young people find purpose and meaning; I read about projects that help people in the final stages of life to find a purpose, other projects that help individuals tell their stories and record their experiences, groups that bring people who’ve lost somebody together… The author achieves this and more, all the while providing sources for her findings and reminders of how the issues discussed relate to philosophers and historical figures past and current. We might discover belonging by joining a society that enacts battles or find transcendence walking in nature or attending a special service at church. Ultimately, this is not a prescriptive book, and the process of discovery of meaning is an individual one.

I loved the stories, which go from individual experiences to projects that have grown and become important to many people, and the theoretical reflections that underpin the concepts, which are clearly explained and will also encourage readers new to the topic to explore further. The author succeeds in preserving the unique voices of the people whose experiences she shares and her own writing is seamlessly and beautifully achieved.  The book made me think and rethink life and its priorities and I suspect it will have a similar effect on many people.

A book on an important topic, written in an easily-accessible manner, illuminating and inspiring. Although I read it quickly for the review, this is a book that can be savoured and returned to as needed, and it will provide new discoveries and insights with every new reading.

A final note: Although the book appears quite long, the notes at the end occupy a 33% of the e-book (although they are easily accessible) and it does not feel like a long read.